What Will Online (and Affiliate) Marketing Look Like in 2015?

A little over a week ago I was approached by Chris Johnson, asking if I would like to contribute a 30-second video answer to a question of how online marketing, and performance marketing in particular, will look like around 2015.

Earlier today my video, along with videos from a few other affiliate marketing experts, was used as a part of Chris’ and Matthew Wood‘s Embracing, Influencing and Disrupting the Customer Journey – an Affiliates Roadmap to 2015keynote speech at Zanox Expert Day in Berlin, Germany. I was honored to be included (the question/challenge was pretty nice there!) and today I’d like to share my thoughts/video with my blog’s readers:

If I had to guess (based on what I see happening now), I’d highlight three main areas:

Online video — I believe that video will really pick up by 2015, but visual and aural content will never be able to fully replace the original (read: textual) one. Neither do I expect online video ads to fully replace static (or even animated) banners and other types of creatives.

Social media — No, don’t get me wrong: some are already monetizing social (all three of these areas: social shopping, social gaming, and social content). However, it is still far from being mainstream. In 2015 I’m certain it will be. After all, the Internet is inherently social; and more platforms will undoubtedly emerge, while affiliates will find ways to make money using both existing and new social media platforms. The platforms themselves will also start being more active in the performance marketing space. However, more than likely not directly, but via various subaffiliate type tools.

Mobile — Based on 2011 holiday season figures, we’ve already seen a really impressive growth [more here]. But the really exciting time is yet to come! For example, did you know that two-thirds of US smartphone owners already use their phone to aid in shopping, and eMarketer estimates that by the end of 2015 in America there will be 176.3 million smartphone users [source]. Also, by 2016 mobile search is expected to generate 27.8 billion more queries than desktop search, generating $3.2 billion in revenue compared to desktop’s $10.2 billion [source]. The era of mobile is just beginning. Things will only get more interesting with time.

What do you think online and affiliate marketing will look like in 2015?!